The Spirit of Democratic Capitalism - 2

Much of Novak's work in the The Spirit of Democratic Capitalism is defending capitalism vis-a-vis its high-minded alternative, democratic socialism. Socialism is often thought of as a morally superior idea - one that has better values. Socialists value liberty, fraternity, and equality, with a strong emphasis on the equality. It just so happens that socialism has had some difficulties translating this idealism into the real world. Novak reflects on his own thinking in a critical and thoughtful passage

“In thinking of socialism as a kind of political religion, or perhaps more exactly as a political-economic expression of Jewish-Christian ideals, I tended to give socialists credit for pure idealism. Capitalism might be justified because it works better, but – I tended to agree – it represents an inferior ideal.

The notion that an unworkable ideal is a morally acceptable ideal, however, troubled me. If an ideal doesn’t work, isn’t that evidence that it is out of touch with human reality? Isn’t that a sign that it is a false ideal?”(pg. 172)

Now, someone who is particularly picky about their logic will tell you this is not necessarily true (the idea could have been implemented incorrectly), and they would be right, but that is to miss Novak's point. Novak would argue that the horrors of 20th century socialism were not entirely unrelated to socialist ideas. I think this is basically right. All ideas have consequences, and not all of those consequences are necessarily intended.

George W. Bush looks weary

I highly recommend watching Raymond Arroyo's interview with current President George W. Bush.

You can find it here.

As much as I may disagree with him about this or that, I think it is clear that the President is an honest man of good will who is trying to live according to his conscience. I have always found that those who accuse him of being a liar or taking pleasure in war or whatever to be grossly out of touch with the character of the man; I would cite this interview as evidence for this claim.

The Spirit of Democratic Capitalism - 1

I think that it is fair to say that you don’t often hear people praising the virtues of our economic system, capitalism. People will argue that capitalism is selfish and appeals to crude competitive desires, that it makes the rich richer and the poor poorer, that it creates class conflict – the list of criticisms goes on and on. Michael Novak is a man who sees things differently. In late 1978 he published The Spirit of Democratic Capitalism, a seminal work that engages some of these opinions and finds them to be wanting. His argument is many-faceted, profound and nuanced. I want to reprint and highlight some of the key parts of his argument for discussion, and so I don’t forget what he was talking about! Perhaps needless to say, the book provided plenty of food for thought.

I thought a good place to start would be Novak’s own summary of his work. Speaking of democratic capitalism, he writes

“…my fundamental conviction has only been deepened by experience: no other system is as capable of raising the world’s poor out of poverty. The traditional agrarian economy is bankrupt; to escape from rural misery scores of millions are already fleeing from the backward countryside to the sprawling cities. The suddenly exposed grimness of socialism in Eastern Europe has dashed many illusions about socialism as a hope for the world’s poor. Meanwhile, the poor of the world, seeking opportunity, stream toward democratic capitalist lands. Thus, the strongest moral claim for democratic capitalism is that it is the most practical hope of the world’s poor: no magic wand, but the best hope. Its task will not be complete until a firm material base has been placed under every family in the planet.”(pg. 421)

Thus he ultimately stakes the argument on results, not theory. Thus, the argument overall should be empirically verifiable. A good thing for those who prefer a scientific mode of inquiry!

One Two Three ... Infinity

There was a young fellow from Trinity
Who took the square root of infinity
But the number of digits
Gave him the fidgets;
He dropped Math and took up Divinity

for justice, for peace

on the ongoing Democratic power grab - who do you think will win?

I pick Obama. Let it be known I usually pick wrong.

Barack Obama on Babies

In Barack Obama's hope-filled world, babies are a punishment. Here, he explains himself:

GEE, WEIRD

This past weekend, the New York Times reported on the status of the newly minted universal health care in Massachusetts.

AMHERST, Mass. — Once they discover that she is Dr. Kate, the supplicants line up to approach at dinner parties and ballet recitals. Surely, they suggest to Dr. Katherine J. Atkinson, a family physician here, she might find a way to move them up her lengthy waiting list for new patients.

Those fortunate enough to make it soon learn they face another long wait: Dr. Atkinson’s next opening for a physical is not until early May — of 2009.

In pockets of the United States, rural and urban, a confluence of market and medical forces has been widening the gap between the supply of primary care physicians and the demand for their services. Modest pay, medical school debt, an aging population and the prevalence of chronic disease have each played a role.

Now in Massachusetts, in an unintended consequence of universal coverage, the imbalance is being exacerbated by the state’s new law requiring residents to have health insurance.

Since last year, when the landmark law took effect, about 340,000 of Massachusetts’ estimated 600,000 uninsured have gained coverage. Many are now searching for doctors and scheduling appointments for long-deferred care.

I'll bet this is the only problem too!

for future reference

From Thomas Aquinas via the Catholic Encyclopedia-

the act of faith is the assent of the intellect to a truth which is beyond its comprehension, but which it accepts under the influence of the will moved by Grace.

Harry Jaffa on William F. Buckley on Harry Jaffa

Harry Jaffa has an excellent, if self-aggrandizing article in National Review today. In it, he discusses his relationship with the late WFB and makes some excellent points that ought to underpin any political philosophy. First, he notes that, in any political philosophy, primacy should be given to the human soul. Our superficial disagreements often have deep roots:

At bottom, the disagreements concerning the American political tradition were disagreements concerning the nature of the human soul. And it did not take any argument to convince Bill Buckley that, when you came to the human soul, you did not fool around. Bill never forgot that my first book was on Aristotle and Aquinas.

Elsewhere he notes that we cannot begin to philosophize without

knowing why certain self-evident truths were the basis, not only of justice, but of sanity. [And that] there is no ground for human rights in positive law unless there is a prior ground in natural law recognizing that human beings are neither beasts nor God.

He concludes with yet another example of WFBs famed generosity

One final note. In 1974 my younger son — the same who had driven Bill from Riverside to Claremont — graduated from Yale. To see him through, we had scraped the bottom of the family barrel until there was no bottom to the barrel. We simply had no money to go to the graduation. How Bill found out about this, I have no idea. But his check for one thousand dollars arrived, with instructions to go to the graduation, and later to stop at his New York home for dinner! I cannot begin to express how moving the experience was to attend my son’s graduation from Yale, thirty five years after my own. During the weekend there was a strange bonding of classmates who had been close friends and their families, the memory of which shines ever brighter through the years. To have missed that occasion seems now inconceivable. Once again, and forever, many thanks, Bill. And may flights of angels sing thee to thy rest.

the Anti-Modernist Oath

St. Pius the Tenth gives us the Anti-Modernist Oath. An excellent corrective for some things in the Church today. A selection of particular interest to me:

I hold with certainty and sincerely confess that faith is not a blind sentiment of religion welling up from the depths of the subconscious under the impulse of the heart and the motion of a will trained to morality; but faith is a genuine assent of the intellect to truth received by hearing from an external source. By this assent, because of the authority of the supremely truthful God, we believe to be true that which has been revealed and attested to by a personal God, our Creator and Lord.

wouldn't this be ironic

The New York Times reports that

[two scientists think]... a giant particle accelerator that will begin smashing protons together outside Geneva this summer might produce a black hole or something else that will spell the end of the Earth — and maybe the universe.

Scientists say that is very unlikely — though they have done some checking just to make sure.

The world’s physicists have spent 14 years and $8 billion building the Large Hadron Collider, in which the colliding protons will recreate energies and conditions last seen a trillionth of a second after the Big Bang. Researchers will sift the debris from these primordial recreations for clues to the nature of mass and new forces and symmetries of nature.

But Walter L. Wagner and Luis Sancho contend that scientists at the European Center for Nuclear Research, or CERN, have played down the chances that the collider could produce, among other horrors, a tiny black hole, which, they say, could eat the Earth. Or it could spit out something called a “strangelet” that would convert our planet to a shrunken dense dead lump of something called “strange matter.” Their suit also says CERN has failed to provide an environmental impact statement as required under the National Environmental Policy Act.

Although it sounds bizarre, the case touches on a serious issue that has bothered scholars and scientists in recent years — namely how to estimate the risk of new groundbreaking experiments and who gets to decide whether or not to go ahead.

In any event, I can't wait to see the results of these experiments! They are going to be able to perform experiments to test the validity of string theory. Physics will finally be able to proceed!

the need for constant praise

A humorous exchange from Slate's advice columnist, Prudence:

Dear Prudence,
I'm an ambitious recent college graduate. Six months ago, I moved to Washington, D.C., and was lucky enough to land a well-paying job with great career prospects as an assistant at a law firm. The problem is that one of the partners I assist is particularly challenging. She's intelligent and distinguished, but she is also a perfectionist. She's an extremely daunting supervisor—especially for a legal neophyte and nonperfectionist like me. I'm functioning in high gear all day long, but I struggle to keep up. What's worse is that she is heavy on the criticism and light on the positive reinforcement. A simple mistake like forgetting to put the "Northwest" at the end of a Washington, D.C., address in her appointment schedule will set off a string of negative interactions, while a perfectly orchestrated event will maybe muster an e-mail saying "Tks." Our exchanges often leave me fuming yet stuck without a venue for venting. At what point can I turn to my boss and say, "Hey, I need things to be different around here" without sounding like an ingrate for the great opportunity that I have.

—Deterred in the District

Dear Deterred,
At any point, you can turn to her and say, "I need things to be different around here." She will likely agree and respond, "Let's start by having you clear out your desk by noon." Sure, your job's daunting, but you have chosen to work in a high-pressure field in which every detail counts. (And if she has an appointment, she doesn't want to get in a cab without knowing what quadrant of the city she's headed to.) You may have picked up by now that people don't get to be top partners at law firms because of their "Don't worry, that's close enough" and "Let's put it off until mañana" attitudes. But it turns out your frustration with your boss is part of common generational miscommunication. Jeffrey Zaslow had a column in the Wall Street Journal describing young workers' need for and expectation of constant praise, and how some employers are realizing that they'd better be generous with the stroking if they want to retain them. But the essential problem for you is that given your boss' personality and demands, she doesn't think "I'm a nonperfectionist" excuses you from doing things perfectly for her. You've only been out of school for a few months, so why don't you think of working for this partner as legal boot camp? It's going to be tough and sometimes unpleasant, but if you stick with it, you will come away with a set of skills no amount of flattery will provide. And when you get one of her "Tks" messages, realize it's the equivalent of getting a smile out of a drill sergeant.

—Prudie

Socialism and "Free Love"

It is no accident, as the Socialists say, that Socialism and Sex (or "free love") came in together as "advanced" ideas. They supplement each other. Russian dissident Igor Shafarevich, his his profound book The Socialist Phenomenon, explains that the Socialist project of homogenizing society demands that the family be vitiated or destroyed. This can be accomplished in good measure by profaning conjugal love and breaking monogamy's link between Sex and loyalty. Hence, in their missionary phases Socialist movements often stress sexual "liberation," and members of radical organizations may impose mandatory promiscuity within the group, everyone sharing a bed with each of the others, each equally related to each. it is the ultimate in leveling....

Few Americans will buy a bottle labeled Socialism. The cunning of the Socialist hive has consisted largely in its skillin piggybacking on more attractive things. Like Sex.

- Joseph Sobran

the status of evolutionary biology

Darwinian evolution happens by random mutation and natural selection. A prominent scientist has a piece in the New York Times discussing the status of our knowledge of this phenomena:

All mutations are accidental changes to DNA. Beneficial mutations are those accidental changes that in some way improve an organism’s chances of surviving and reproducing. Obvious examples from recent decades would be a mutation that confers antibiotic resistance on bacteria that cause disease in humans, or one that confers poison resistance on a rat. Less obvious are mutations that produce hot pink spiders and quartz-dwelling bacteria. But the point is that such mutations allow organisms to evolve to fit their environments better — a process known as adaptation.

Adaptation is the “wow!” factor of nature: when we see something spectacular or exquisite, we are typically looking at an adaptation. And what underpins adaptation is the appearance and spread of beneficial mutations: the process is not possible without them. Yet despite their central role in adaptive evolution, beneficial mutations have — until recently — received surprisingly little attention.

She goes on to discuss some of the details and the direction her research has taken her, concluding with the rather disappointing claim that,

Together, the study of these different mutational strands — the good, the bad and the irrelevant — is weaving a comprehensive picture of the general distribution of mutations, and thus, the spectrum of genetic variation that appears in nature. When this is complete, we will have a more complete view of how mutations of different types impact different paths and patterns in evolution.

It seems Prof. Judson has not heard of Prof. Behe's book.

hilarious

On St. Patrick's Day:

"It is also worth noting that on this day, there is always one trump card that never fails to gain respect and acclaim. When you are sitting at an Irish bar and someone orders a round of Guinness, you must take a single sip and while the other white people are savoring their drink, you say: “mmmm, I know it sounds cliche, but it really is true. Guinness just tastes better in Ireland.”

This comment will elicit an immediate and powerful response of people agreeing with your valuable insight. This statement also has the additional benefit of humiliating the members of your party who have not been to Ireland (and thus cannot confirm this proclamation). Having not traveled to Ireland and consumed a beer that is widely available in their hometown and throughout the world, they will immediately be perceived as provincial, uncultured, and inferior to you."

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Dr. Barbara Rucinska, RIP

Dr. Rucinska, I will forever miss our talks on politics, religion, and life. May the Angels of Heaven welcome you with open arms. Welcome to paradise.

Dr. Barbara Rucinska
STRAFFORD ; Dr. Barbara Rucinska, 59, of Parshley Lane, died March 20, 2008, at her home, after a long battle with cancer. Born June 3, 1948, in Gdansk, Poland, she was the daughter of Marian and Gertruda (Burau) Dziurla. Barbara has lived in the United States for the past 25 years, after moving from Gdynia, Poland, with her husband. She graduated from the Gdansk University of Technology and earned her doctorate in computer engineering in the United States. She earned a position at the University of New Hampshire as a senior lecturer of computer engineering, testing and testability, and security engineering. She loved people and people loved her. Members of her family include her husband of 29 years, Dr. Andrzej Rucinski, of Strafford; and her sisters, Maria Dziurla, who lives in Poland, and Jadwiga Denamps, who lives in France. In lieu of flowers, donations can be given to the University of New Hampshire Foundation, Elliott Alumni Center, with a note attached that reads, In Memory of Barbara Rucinska to be given to the UNH ECE Department. A memorial service will be held Sunday at 4 p.m. in the Chapel of the R.M. Edgerly & Son Funeral Home, 86 South Main St., Rochester, NH 03867. Burial will be in Poland at a later date.

never underestimate the Clintons

A new poll in the swing state of... Massachusetts? shows Obama and McCain tied!

http://www.surveyusa.com/client/PollReport.aspx?g=692c0281-9ce4-4c71-8e4f-b970d4ea8193

These kind of polls are what will swing the nomination to Hillary...

it is possible to change your mind

David Mamet, a rather profane playwright, reflects on his reflections...

And, I wondered, how could I have spent decades thinking that I thought everything was always wrong at the same time that I thought I thought that people were basically good at heart? Which was it? I began to question what I actually thought and found that I do not think that people are basically good at heart; indeed, that view of human nature has both prompted and informed my writing for the last 40 years. I think that people, in circumstances of stress, can behave like swine, and that this, indeed, is not only a fit subject, but the only subject, of drama.

I'd observed that lust, greed, envy, sloth, and their pals are giving the world a good run for its money, but that nonetheless, people in general seem to get from day to day; and that we in the United States get from day to day under rather wonderful and privileged circumstances—that we are not and never have been the villains that some of the world and some of our citizens make us out to be, but that we are a confection of normal (greedy, lustful, duplicitous, corrupt, inspired—in short, human) individuals living under a spectacularly effective compact called the Constitution, and lucky to get it.

... and discovers the political implications of original sin.

a letter from R. R. Reno

"But I wrote the essay because a closer reading of the Genealogy of Morals shows that Nietzsche was neither a street-corner existentialist nor a jet-setting professor sermonizing about "the Other". He understood the human condition. He saw that the soul is given life by the invasion of demand into the depths of the human psyche, and he suspected (to his horror and dismay) that a life worth living requires an ascetic submission of individuality to something higher. I never claimed that Nietzsche wanted to see this deeper truth. Nor did I argue that it accorded with his eschatological dreams. I only claimed in my essay that Nietzsche's integrity of mind freed him from easy modern pieties about human flourishing in a secular, disenchanted culture - and forced him toward an Augustinian view of the restless human heart.

Nietzsche thought of himself as a Seer. To a certain degree, I'm inclined to agree. He certainly saw the strange paradoxes of post-Christian culture: the high demands of authenticity, the rigorous self-discipline of Zarathustra, the attractive deceptions of modernity. Yet, like all Seers, Nietzsche could not control what was revealed to him. This master of suspicion seems to have had suspicions about his own suspicion of the ascetic ideal. That he suppressed them should not surprise us. It is very difficult to live without lies. But we need not lie to ourselves about ourselves. In fact, if we would be genuine humanists, then we cannot.

- FT April 2008

a letter from Robert George

"If I understand [him] correctly, however, he thinks that human purpose cannot be discovered or understood, even imperfectly, apart from the light of revelation. I disagree. I would affirm, with St. Paul, that God has created man in such a way that "even the Gentiles who have not the law of Moses have a law written on their hearts," that is, an understanding of purpose and the human good that is sufficient for moral accountability."

- FT April 2008